Upcountry Vintage & Antique Market

On the fourth Saturday of April and again on the fourth Saturday of October, the Exhibit and Entry Halls of the Lewis & Clark County Fairgrounds, on the northwest side of Helena, fill with old things for sale. Upcountry Vintage & Antique Market counts more than 100 sellers from across Montana. Their goods run from small items to large furniture: salvage and farm finds, retro and repurposed pieces, country chic and industrial, primitives, fine linens and dishes, Hoosier cabinets, wagon wheels. The doors open at 9 and close at 4, and entry drops to half price after 2 in the afternoon.

Every vendor takes cash, some take checks, and some take cards. An ATM stands in the Exhibit Hall. A crew of students in neon vests carries purchases out to vehicles and works for tips. The Helena Woman’s Club caters the day, selling lunches and homemade desserts to raise money for its community benefit and charitable projects.

Booth M and the leaning ladder

The October edition, held on the 24th in 2026, is billed as a holiday market. In the weeks before it, the market’s Facebook and Instagram pages introduced sellers one at a time. One October post sent linen shoppers to the booths marked “M.” One sits in the back corner of the main floor by the staircase, and another sits at the front by the north windows, left of a leaning ladder. They hold runners, dresser scarves, doilies, pillowcases, dish towels, tablecloths, napkins, and hankies.

Harlan of Harlan’s Wood & Time, whom the market calls a long-time vendor, spent the weeks before the 2026 holiday market restoring antique trunks for it. He was also bringing barnwood pictures, antique tools, lanterns, fishing goods, and knives. Paula and Patrice of P Pickers are sisters from Great Falls who refurbish vintage furniture and carry costume jewelry, Pyrex, and vintage barware. Emily Rowberry of Backroads Jewelry Co. makes western-inspired jewelry on a farm in Sheridan. Nikki of Iron Horse Metal Art draws and cuts her metal pieces by hand. Donna Waller of Rusty Bucket Antiques rebuilds old furniture. Mike Friend of Friends Retro brings toys, records, video games, movie and television collectibles, and old advertising. Dani, Tate, and TJ of SnoCap Designs work in silverware. “We believe in revealing the hidden beauty in ordinary, forgotten cutlery by upcycling it & other unused items into extraordinary pieces of jewelry,” Dani wrote.

Kitt of The Whole Kitt & Caboodle sells quilts, cross stitch, embroidery, knitting, and crochet, along with pieces showing swans, geese, bunnies, and bears. She explained her booth’s name: “Not only is it a little play on my name, but it’s also what my grandpa lovingly called me growing up—and it perfectly describes how I show up at markets…bringing a whole collection of treasures along every time.”

The 2026 holiday market was also announced as the first appearance of the Montana National Guard Thrift Shop. Its volunteer crew from Fort Harrison had set aside vintage and antique pieces for the day, and the shop’s proceeds go to the local veteran community.

Into the Exhibit Hall

The market’s organizer is Laurie Coverdell-Hall of The Vintage Rose antiques and crafts. On the market’s website she describes her aim as “a fun and festive market” in “a comfortable and bright setting.” In 2022 she shared the organizer’s billing with Lois Coverdell. One of the market’s 2026 posts reads, “I always find & haul home something I love from MARTIE with The Copper Cup,” whose booth runs to things vintage, primitive, folk, and country. The Copper Cup was already selling at the market in 2018.

The halls themselves are recent. In June 2004, voters in Lewis and Clark County approved a mill levy to rebuild the fairgrounds, where the first territorial fair had been held in 1870. The levy paid for a new grandstand and arena, joined by an Entry Hall to a 36,000-square-foot Exhibit Hall. Construction began in 2007, and both halls opened to the public in November 2008.

The market came indoors in 2021. A Helena events listing announced it for May 8 of that year in the Exhibit Hall under the motto “Great Old Stuff, Food, & Fun.” That November 20 the hall also held the first Upcountry Vintage Christmas Market. The sources number these years differently. A Southwest Montana travel listing had announced the 8th annual market for May 9, 2020, at its old site. The 2021 Helena listing also called its market the 8th annual. The market’s own website called the spring market of April 23, 2022, the 10th annual. That spring the market advertised more than 70 vendors, and the spring 2023 market advertised more than 70 booths. By 2026 it had passed 100 sellers, spread into the Entry Hall as well, and added “& Antique” to its name.

A red barn on Highway 518

Before the fairgrounds, the market met at the Kleffner Ranch, 305 Highway 518 in East Helena, a mile south of Highway 12/287. Its website told visitors, “We’re in the big, old red barn on the west side of the road.” That barn was built in 1887. It is 10,000 square feet and fully restored, and the market’s site called it “the most beautiful setting of any vintage market in Montana.” About 40 vendors filled it. Parking was free inside the ranch gate, the ATM stood in the barn near the entry, and high school kids in neon green T-shirts hauled purchases for tips. The Helena Woman’s Club was already catering, and Village Kettle Corn appears on the 2018 and 2019 vendor lists.

The organizer in those years was Jan Lerum of Sandhill House Vintage in Townsend. She invited sellers who were “enthusiastic about their ‘cool old stuff.’” The market’s site billed the sale of May 11, 2019, as the 7th annual. In its own Instagram post, the market credits Karen and Larry Lewis of Country Cupboard as its original founders, with the market “since the very beginning.” Country Cupboard sold in the barn in 2019 and remains on the vendor roll. So does Lerum’s Sandhill House Vintage, which was among the sellers at the 2021 spring market.

In 2018 the barn market ran a schedule of demonstrations by its vendors through the middle of the day:

• 11:30 a.m.: restoring vintage linens, Jan Lerum of Townsend
• Noon: painting on fabric, Carla Martens of Helena
• 12:30 p.m.: painting barn wood, Pat Branson of Helena
• 1:00 p.m.: photo transfer, Carla Martens
• 1:30 p.m.: chair rushing, Nancy Schwalm of Lincoln
• 2:00 p.m.: boot painting, Carla Martens
• 2:30 p.m.: Depression glass, Brian Mogren of Butte